How to Prepare for a Worse Case Office of Diversity Strategy Without Losing Hope

Whatever plans or objectives you had at the beginning of 2020, you seriously need to reconsider them. The International Monetary Fund recently announced that the world will very likely experience a recession that is worse than anything we’ve seen since the 1930s. To put this into perspective, the US economy is expected to contract by 5.9% and the European economy is expected to do much worse, contracting by 7.5%.

Even as States, companies and their HR teams prepare "back-to-work" plans, these simply seem like hopeful pipe dreams. Let’s face it, the entire world is now in a complete state of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. There are a lot of unknowns.

Will asymptomatic people, experiencing no COVID-19 effects, continue infecting others? Does the fact that you’ve had and resolved COVID-19 give you immunity and for how long? Will there be a second wave that is as bad or worse as people go back to work? Or will it sneak up on you as we enter the Fall season? Will there be a reliable cure in the near term? Will 2020 see a vaccine that is proven effective and has low risk? We don't know.

What about the uncertainty this injects into our economy? Will businesses be forced to start and stop for months or years? And even as businesses roll out their back to the office plans, how many people are comfortable taking public transportation and going into an office? How many people will be willing to fly again in the near term and how does that impact your industry? How many moms are comfortable going to work and leaving their child at that daycare center or school? How will this impact your business regardless of where you are in the eco-system? Whether you make or sell movies, sell homes, provide fuel, etcetera? When will this be over in month, years, ever in the foreseeable future? I can actually keep going and easily fill a few more pages. But I think the point is made. There are lots of questions here about business impact without any good answers. One thing, however, is for sure. Your business and your role will not remain untouched.

Now is not the time, however, to sit and wait and see. Nor is it the time to just react to whatever business or HR plan sounds good to us. In the face of so many questions, diversity and inclusion leaders need to consider having several strategic options in mind. This will give you the flexibility to start moving forward now while being prepared to pivot as needed.

There is one framework I learned many years ago when I took a Dale Carnegie course that I think is actually very useful in helping you put together this type of flexible strategic plan. It starts with a very simple question that assumes the worse will happen and then gradually takes you through questions of what you might do if the situation is less severe than the worst-case scenario expects. So here is my application of this to your Office of Diversity practices.

First, ask yourself “What is the worse that can happen?” Say the answer for you is that you end up with a super-low to almost zero budget, in a company where you personally are hanging on to your job by a thin thread. Next, ask yourself “What would I do in that case?” Start by looking at that reduced budget and thinking about what you might slash. I always put conferences at the top of my list since they are big tickets items with lots of trailing travel and lodging expenses. These are also likely to be discouraged due to ongoing concerns over big gatherings.

Also, consider what you might combine. For example, if you are currently paying for association memberships, and separately for training to support your employee network leaders and a magazine for PR ads to position your company as a diversity and inclusion champion, can you swap that out for something lower cost that meets all three targets? How about your ERGs, can they work together on common projects from various angles as opposed to distinct pursuits so as to operate on a lower-cost model? Also, check out the technology you already have in the company and see how you can sustain a solid virtual program in place to maintain the engagement with all those people who remain remote, or who may suddenly become remote if there is another shutdown. The bottom line here is to build a bare-bones strategic plan.

Next, ask yourself, “What if it turns out that things aren't so bad?” Say you lose 30 to 40 percent of your budget for programs, but aren’t completely bankrupt? Ask yourself, “What would I add back in if I had these extra dollars?” Make sure any of these extra investments have a clear and powerful ROI. Also, ask yourself can you continue them if you suddenly had to all go remote?

Finally, ask yourself, “What if we completely bounce back?” So let’s say by some unlikely miracle, everything went back to the old normal? Say your budget is magically restored. This is unlikely, but we should consider it as well. Then explore what you would invest in now based on what you learned during COVID-19. What vulnerabilities did COVID-19 expose in your old plan and/or your diversity and inclusion strategy? What would you do with this hind-sight that’s smarter and better?

As you think through your multi-step strategy, I would like you to keep in mind a powerful quote from American author Tom Robbins on how to achieve stability in the midst of instability. “True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A Truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed.” Prepare your Office of Diversity and Inclusion strategy for uncertainty and you will find your true stability.

Insights from the CDO PowerCircle. For more on the CDO PowerCircle, visit https://cdopowercircle.com/